


it means "hope"

by dragonfly45



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: AU: rey stays long enough to see finn wake up, F/M, M/M, Mildly Dubious Consent, Multi, Polyamory, Tattoos, bc luke can wait like a month, not an au, the obligatory tattoo/flower shop au except its NOT HAHA
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-30
Updated: 2017-04-30
Packaged: 2018-10-25 23:50:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10775058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonfly45/pseuds/dragonfly45
Summary: Finn and Rey have never, in their entire lives, seen a tattoo; Finn was too busy being trained as a Stormtrooper, and Rey was too busy surviving on a desert planet where resources like ink could not be wasted. Poe has a single flower tattooed on his waist.Finn wants one; Rey wants one. Poe doesn't realize just how in love he is.





	it means "hope"

**Author's Note:**

> second time's the charm, right?
> 
> right?

“Poe?”

“Finn?”

“What’s that?” Poe paused, shirt held over his head, looking curiously at Finn standing in his doorway. Finn was pointed at his hip, where a single, tiny flower had been tattooed. 

“Oh, the flower? It’s called a gladiolus. Not a very pretty name, but it’s supposed to represent…” Poe shifted his weight, pulling his shirt down and covering the flower. “It’s meant to be in remembrance of my friends who died in battle.” 

“No, I meant - why is it painted on your skin like that?” Finn stepped forward so the door could close behind him. “Did you paint it or did someone else?” 

“You don’t know what a tattoo is?” Finn shook his head. “It’s - “ And here he paused. How could he explain it without making it sound barbaric or harmful? “They didn’t have tattoos at all back when you were… ?“ He waved his hand vaguely.

“No! We weren’t allowed to do anything with our bodies, nothing like that. Doesn’t the paint wash off?”

“It’s, uh, it's not painted. It’s ink.” Poe lifted the edge of his shirt and rubbed at one of the petals. Finn’s eyes widened when it didn’t smudge. “Um, you dip a needle in ink and then stick it into your skin, over and over again, until it makes a pattern.”

“You do that on purpose? Doesn’t it hurt?”

“Sometimes.”

Finn considered this new information, crossing his arms and leaning forward to get a better look at the flower. 

“Can I touch it?”

Poe swallowed heavily. “Sure.” Finn reached out with gentle fingers and rubbed a thumb over the flower, still taken aback that it didn’t smudge or wash away. It tickled and Poe twitched, giggling quietly. Finn looked up at him, doe-eyed and excited.

“I want one.” It was Poe’s turn to be taken aback. He dropped the edge of his shirt and gave Finn a cautious glance.

“Really? This isn’t a decision to be taken lightly. It hurts, and it’s permanent. Forever,” He added for emphasis. 

“So? I want one. I want a flower, like you. But different. Do they have flowers for other things?”

Poe laughed, his chest warming at Finn’s enthusiasm. “Of course! They have thousands of flowers all over the galaxy, one of them has to mean something to you!” Finn straightened up, grinning. 

“You have to do a lot of choosing though. Where do you want it? How much color? How big? What flower? More than one? A whole bouquet?” Poe paused at the thought. A full bouquet winding around Finn’s body would be stunning. A flower for every moment of his life, for every thought or emotion. He shook himself out of the daze it brought. For now, Finn needed to decide if he truly wanted a single flower or not.

“C’mon, we’ve got plenty of time to think about it. I’ll take you around to a bunch of other people with tattoos. They’ll tell you all about ‘em.” Poe slung an arm around Finn’s shoulders and pulled him out of the room. 

 

“That one,” Finn said with certainty. The tattoo artist, Sanne, nodded and scribbled a few notes on a scrap of paper. 

“And how big?” Finn made a circle with his fingers the size of a lemon. “That’s a nice size. It’ll take a few hours, though. Do you need to pee or something before we start?” 

Finn shook his head. “Alright. I’ve already sanitized the chair, so you can go ahead and lay down, stomach first, and put your head up here - “ Sanne pointed at a cushion balanced on the top of the chair. “ - so your chin doesn’t just sit on plastic. I’ll sketch it out, then transfer it to your skin, then I’ll start with the outline. If it gets to be too much, just tell me, or tap my leg a few times, and I’ll stop. If you want to back out, I’d rather you do it before I actually start sticking ink in your skin.”  
Sanne chuckled to herself, at some sort of inside joke, as Finn arranged himself in a position he could stand for a few hours. 

“Not yet!” Sanne added, laughing again as Finn made an odd face. “We still have to sketch out your design. Sorry if that didn’t quite make sense. I get ahead of myself sometimes.” Finn groaned and rolled over, laughing with her. Poe really had recommended a great artist. “Now, I’m just sketching out ideas here, and tell me what parts you like. Don’t feel like you have to settle for anything, this is a permanent piece of art.” 

Finn watched her doodle on scrap paper, sometimes interrupting to point out which parts he liked, until, finally, they had come up with a design he loved and she could accomplish with little difficulty. When he felt the first few pricks of the needle, he nearly cried with relief that is wasn’t nearly as painful as he thought it was.  
If he dozed while Sanne worked, she never made a comment.

 

“Oh, Finn,” Poe sighed, leaning in the doorway. Finn was stretched out on his stomach, reading and singing to himself. His shirt was tossed to the side, and, shining slightly from lotion, a blue iris was engraved on his side. Finn spun around and winced when his reading pad fell to the floor. 

“Do you like it?” He asked eagerly, sitting up and stretching. Poe practically fell to his knees as he moved to the bed in the hopes of getting a better look. If it weren’t for the risk of infection, Poe might have kissed the work of art painted on his skin. As it was, Finn probably would not have appreciated any kind of kiss from the sweaty, greasy pilot. He looked up at Finn, flushed, Finn none the wiser to his thoughts. 

“What does it mean?”

Finn smiled, and it was like seeing the sun for the first time. “Hope.” He was just sitting, and Poe was on his knees beside him, forgetting he was supposed to be looking at the iris and instead gazing into Finn’s eyes, the way they crinkled with his smile, and he blinked shyly, and his nose flared a little when he laughed, and -  
“Finn? Finn!” Someone knocked sharply on Finn’s door and Poe fell back, his knees cracking as he moved to get away from Finn as quickly as possible. The door slid open, and Rey tumbled in as if she wasn’t expecting the door to open on its own. “Oh. Poe!” Her lips pulled back into a grin, seeing Poe bent in half on the floor. “What are you doing on the floor?” Poe coughed and straightened up, smoothing down his top. 

“Nothing.”

“Do you need anything, Rey?” Finn asked, reaching for the reading pad on the floor and his shirt at the same time, stretching in an awkward position that sent him toppling to the floor beside Poe, who had risen to his knees. Rey roared with laughter, clutching her stomach, and Finn laughed along, barking and loud enough that Poe had to move away. Rey was as beautiful as Finn, her eyes shining with laughter every time he saw her, hair tied messily into any odd number of buns, with only her broadest smiles forming dimples at the curve of her jaw -

Oh. Oh no. Poe felt his stomach turn, watching the two laugh and grin at each other’s misfortunes, beautifully and gracelessly. 

He had fallen in love. It was a new warmth swelling in his chest, with a flush reaching his cheeks and forehead. 

“Oh! Finn, what’s that!” Rey pointed at Finn’s hips, and Finn lifted himself from the floor to show it off.

“I saw one on Poe and I really liked it, so I got one.”

“Is it paint?” Rey sat on the floor next to Finn, while Poe got to his feet and sat on the bed. 

“No, it’s ink. They push it into the skin with needles.” Rey flinched, losing some of her laughter. “It hurts a little, but it’s worth it. Poe, show her yours!” Finding himself in the spotlight, Poe nervously lifted his top up, until the pale pink blossoms were revealed. Rey shifted her legs over so she could reach out and touch it. When it didn’t smudge, her eyes grew wide, like Finn’s had. 

“Mine means hope,” Finn said proudly, finally putting his shirt on over the blue ink. “And Poe’s is supposed to be in memory of his friends.” Rey looked back at Finn.  
“You mean, they mean something? I can get one like that, but different, so it means something to me?”

“You can get more!” Finn informed her excitedly, motioning to his entire body. “I could get as many as I wanted, with all this blank space.” He paused for a moment. “I think I want to wait, so this one can heal and I can see how it looks after a while.”

“Yes,” Poe agreed, finding his voice. “When they heal they look a little different.”

Rey’s eyes lit up again. “I want one, too. I want a bunch if I can.” She leaned into Finn, giggling. “Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier?” She asked both him and Poe accusingly, her tone still light.

“It was supposed to be a surprise for Poe!” Finn giggled with her. She made up her face into something resembling offense.

“And not for me?”

“And for you!” He pressed a kiss to her cheek. She blushed. Poe swallowed. As if he had heard it, Finn looked straight at Poe, eyes narrowing. Questioning. Maybe he had heard Poe. Rey moved her head until her mouth almost brushed Finn’s ear, whispering to him quickly. Finn rose to his feet and took two strides across the room, so he was directly in front of Poe. Rey had gotten to her feet as well, but stayed near the door, watching intently. Poe’s face must have been beet red, but he couldn’t see. All he could see was Finn’s shirt, the soft muscles in his arms, the slight sheen of lotion on the skin that peeked out above his pants, and if he didn’t move back he might have to pull Finn’s face down and just - 

Finn didn’t give him time to finish that thought. He reached down and pulled Poe’s head up to his face, leaning down to meet him in the middle. 

Finn kissed like there was nothing but Poe, like everything he was and everything he would be, and Poe melted at the sensation of slightly chapped lips moving gently with his, nearly chaste save the teeth that bit down sharply on his bottom lip for a moment. Finn pulled away, eye to eye with Poe. 

Poe let out a breathless “oh” as he turned to look at Rey. She hummed her approval, stepping forward to take his place. 

“Save a little for me?” She asked sweetly, bending over and catching Poe’s lips in hers, tangling her fingers in his hair. Her lips were softer, smoother, but less from moisture and more from constant worrying. She didn’t use her teeth; instead, she pressed open-mouthed into him, running her tongue along his lips until he opened his mouth too. She didn’t push further, content to let him take the lead. His hands reached up around her neck, and for a second it was as if they were one person instead of two, until she bit his bottom lip too, softer and less sudden. He let out a quiet groan as she pulled away, and his lips felt swollen and wet. Rey was laughing again, but not at Poe. She laughed in joy, grasping Poe’s hands and pulling him up. 

“Finn said you wouldn’t want to do that, you know,” She said, patting Finn on the arm. Finn looked at his toes sheepishly.

“Oh,” Poe sighed, still dazed. “I would do that all day if I could.” He grinned when Rey pressed another quick kiss to his lips, close-mouthed this time. 

“Me too.” She tugged on his hand, taking Finn’s with her other free hand and pulling them both out of the room. Poe would have followed them to the ends of the Earth, but it seemed Rey was just making him follow her to her bedroom.

**Author's Note:**

> hahaha i've never kissed anyone ever in my entire life sorry


End file.
